| Summary: | Running is recognized as one of the most popular exercise methods. Furthermore,
running related injuries have been under the scope for the last few decades.
Synchronous function between the segments of the lower limbs is necessary for
efficient locomotion. Patellofemoral pain syndrome is a common exercise related
syndrome and multifactorial in nature. The purpose of this study was to measure contact
forces and frontal plane moments to detect the factors that are associated with atypically
high patellofemoral joint loading in rearfoot striking (RFS) running pattern, and
moreover, which could possibly contribute to development of the patellofemoral pain
syndrome. 39 team sport female athletes with rearfoot striking pattern (confirmed with
motion analysis by calculating the footstrike angle) were accepted to perform a shod
running along a 15-m track at 4.0 m/𝑠
2
. An eight-camera system (Vicon T40, Vicon)
recorded the marker positions and GRF data synchronously at 300 Hz and 1500 Hz,
respectively. The results showed that patellofemoral contact force (PFCF) correlated
significantly with hip extension and flexion moments as well as with knee extension
moment (r= -0.576, -0.548, 0.967 respectively, p<0.05). Also spatiotemporal
comparison showed that PFCF correlated negatively with the distance between the
center of mass (COM) and heel contact (COM – heel distance, r= -0.350, p<0.05). Knee
abduction moment correlated negatively with step frequency and positively with COM–
heel distance (r= -0.329 and 0.355 respectively, p<0.05). In addition, knee abduction
moment and maximum knee power had a significant positive correlation (r= 0.466,
p<0.05). PFCF also correlated positively with knee flexion angle (r= 0.341), and a
significant correlation existed between PFCF and maximum knee power (r= 0.467,
p<0.05). It can be suggested that rearfoot striking pattern might contribute to
development of the patellofemoral pain syndrome. It was shown that this running style
stresses the patellofemoral joint and especially the medial side of the knee due to
increased hip and knee extension moments, increased knee flexion angle and increased
knee abduction moment. As the quadriceps’ moment arm increased, the quadriceps was
required to be more active to compensate the lack of activation of the hip musculature.
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